christian fiction

Balancing Writing and Life: Tips from Allison Pearl

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

Good morning, today I’m interviewing author Allison Pearl.

Allison, thank you for being a guest on my blog.

Let’s start with you telling us a little bit about yourself.

Hi! I’m Allison Pearl, a Romantic Suspense and Cozy Mystery writer. I love writing about close-knit worlds in both small towns and big cities inspired by the many different locations in which I’ve lived. When not plotting fictional crimes, I run an online book club (https://allison-pearl.com/allisons-book-club/) and regularly release a newsletter (https://allison-pearl.com/home/newsletter-signup/) with bookish blog posts, giveaways, and reading updates.

What is your book about?

Battered & Torn centers on Nora, a woman hiding from a murderous family while working at a billionaire’s estate, and Archie, the guarded heir who can’t ignore his growing attraction or the secrets surrounding her. As their connection deepens and danger closes in, trusting each other could lead them to the truth or cost them everything, including their lives.

Do you have a day job? If so, how do you find time in your day to write?

During my non-fiction writing hours, I write executive resumes and social media content for professionals looking to transition to a new role. Finding time to write fiction is not easy, and based on my progress balancing both, I only have bad advice 😉 I’ve tried better scheduling, getting up earlier, and more, with unpredictable success. What works today often doesn’t work tomorrow. At the end of the day, I just try to write when I can.

Are you a night owl or morning person?

Definitely not a morning person, but not the most successful night owl either given how much I love an early bedtime. I have some concentration and attention issues that make consistency a challenge which means everyday seems like a new game plan. The older I get, the more I realize that the harder I try to put myself in a box or rigid schedule, the quicker I fail. Ultimately, I’ve learned to give myself permission to adapt day by day.

That’s great advice for all of us.

Are you a plotter or a panster?

Definitely a pantser. I have so much respect for writers who plan and wish I could be them when I grow up, but I just end up turning story plotting into procrastination and avoidance. The only reason my books get finished is because I sit down, start writing, and see what happens. Honestly, my plot twists shock me as much as they shock my readers.

Do you experience writer’s block? What do you do to get through it?

All the time. How I get through it changes case by case, but one strategy I always try when I’m really stuck is good old pen and paper. I close my laptop, sit down with a notebook, and just start writing something. I don’t know why it works for me, but something about writing that way always helps me find my way out of whatever maze I’ve trapped myself in.

Another great tip!

Do you reward yourself when a book is finished? If so, what is your favorite treat?

Sometimes, I reward myself for finishing a chapter 😉 Some days the words come easily, while other days you have to fight for every one of them, so rewards feel like a necessity. I’ll usually go grab a treat or a coffee, or sometimes even take a walk around the store.

What does your family think of your writing?

I think their reactions usually fall somewhere between pride and confusion. Let’s just say a snarky, sailor-mouthed woman revealing a career writing faith-based romantic suspense may have seemed a little inexplicable, but despite the confusion, my family has been incredibly supportive and the best marketing team a person could have.

Allison, it was really great chatting with you.

What’s next for you as an author?

Right now, I’m working on the start of a cozy mystery series about a Pittsburgh-based mobile bookstore owner who has a knack for continually finding herself in trouble.

And before we go, where can readers find you online?

Readers can find me online at allison-pearl.com, where I share book updates, blog posts, giveaways, and newsletter sign-ups, as well as on social media under my author name, Allison Pearl.

From Hiatus to Inspiration: A Novelist’s Revival

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

In 2018, I began a story about a hometown football player and the valedictorian meeting up at their 15-year class reunion. Then I wrote a sequel to it. I went on to rewrite two contemporary novels from the past. In 2019 I signed a contract for my first holiday novella, then for the Reluctant Billionaire. In 2021 I signed a contract for the sequel holiday novella. I wrote another full-length contemporary that my editor rejected. I understood, it wasn’t ready for publication yet.

I didn’t write any fiction for a few years.

During that hiatus from fiction writing, I volunteered in children’s ministry at my local church. I created and wrote the curriculum we used for about 2 1/2 years. Then I couldn’t do it anymore. I lost my focus. I loved the children but I couldn’t keep up.

In 2024 I wrote my Thanksgiving novella and signed a contract for it. However, the publisher closed its doors before it could be published.

Last year, in 2025, I published that book, and no others. I had covers updated for the Courage series and the Billionaire story. I made a few sales, which equaled new readers. I had also taken a break from posting on my blog.

A few weeks ago I felt myself drifting into depression. Post holiday blues, cold weather, “stuck” at home. Then a couple of weeks ago I had spent two days with my sisters. We ate together, thrift shopped, laughed and I think there might have been a few tears. It was a welcome break in the middle of a hard month.

Last week I felt the weight of the month of February with all of its memorial dates: Pat’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, our anniversary all coming up in the first half of the month. So many memories of times spent together, the love we shared and the years after my loss.

So I made an appointment to see my counselor. I will go in this afternoon. I’ll talk to her about the hard days coming up, how I’ve been feeling the blues. She doesn’t tell me what to do, but she helps me see clearly so I know what I need to do to make things better.

Then on Sunday, maybe Saturday?

Inspiration hit.

First, I finished up the edits on that story about the quarterback and valedictorian. I hope to publish it this month and have printed copies available in March.

I hired a local editor to work on the second book about the quarterback’s brother.

I also hired the cover design for the second book.

I hope to have that book published and available in April.

I pulled up a book that I wrote years ago. At the time, we had received a used computer from a friend. I wrote 72 pages in three days. Then several years passed before I finished it.

Creative writing in the 21st century is very different from the 1900s. I’ve learned many things through the editing process with my previous publisher and editor. I am so thankful for those opportunities and what I’ve been able to put into practice.

I started editing the story, The Love We Knew, yesterday and woke up this morning excited to work on it again. It is on the schedule for publication in May.

I also dusted off the beach romance that was rejected to see if I could make it better.

I’m writing a sequel to the Lessons from Garage Sales book which will be called, Contentment at Home. Something I struggled with most of my married life and child-raising years.

Life has its twists and turns, its storms and quiet times, seasons of grief and mountaintops of joy. I am thankful that God has brought me through each moment. His grace has made living my life to the fullest possible.

I’m especially grateful that the inspiration to write has come to me again, even out of the gray and depressing month that I just passed through, and knowing the difficult days that lie ahead.

Here’s a look at the cover for the story about the high school reunion:

Author Interview: Lisa Dunn

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

My guest today is Lisa Dunn, author of the YA Fantasy series, The Chasmaria Chronicles.

Lisa, thank you for joining me today. Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I was born in Michigan, raised in Florida, reside in South Carolina, and dream of settling down in a remote cottage on a wild, windswept shore where I can soak up vast beauty and pour it into stories that move readers’ souls. A great-aunt referred to my grandmother as “a rare mix of mystic and common sense,” and I may have inherited more than my fair share of that. Even I can’t predict whether I’ll meet a tragic situation with tears, philosophy, or bizarre humor. Truthfully, it’s usually a socially awkward combination of all three.

What is your series about?

THE CHASMARIA CHRONICLES is a trilogy that follows Grit of Berth and Stone from a village that puts self above all to a kingdom where truth, goodness, and beauty reign. In the sequel to the series, HEARKEN THE SONG OF KILCARRAIG, readers journey into a monster-infested land with two of the trilogy’s supporting characters taking the lead. HEARKEN is all about holding onto hope despite our failures and devastating circumstances.

What is the inspiration behind your books?

THE CHASMARIA CHRONICLES sought to answer the questions of what a world without love would look like and what would happen if love crashed into it.

HEARKEN THE SONG OF KILCARRAIG addresses deserts of faith—the fears, regrets, guilts, and sorrows we bury deep in our hearts and that stand in the way of hope. The bulk of the book was written during the isolation and uncertainty of the early phase of the pandemic, and I think that helped me get a little deeper into the mindset of Clan Crowley, as well as to understand Slate’s frustration with them and Bard’s love for them—in short, to grasp the reality that most of us, even if we disagree, are just doing the best we can with where we are and what we have.

Now for some questions that readers want to know the answers to:

What was the catalyst for your interest in writing?

I grew up surrounded by books. My father tucked my sisters and me into bed with impromptu tales peopled with characters from C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald and characters of his own imagining. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t playing with stories in my head. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when one actually made it onto paper, but it was a big, wonderful surprise when one, two, three, and now four made it into the hands of readers I’ve never even met.

Were there any surprises that came up as you wrote your story? 

Always. I tend to have a relatively decent idea of where a story is headed before I start, but I never fail to discover something I hadn’t anticipated in a character, whether it be a motivation, a fear, or a facet of their background or nature that changes everything. For example, when I first conceived the plot for HEARKEN, I imagined Slate as an upbeat, ambitious young man, but when I started writing in earnest, the events of the trilogy hit hard, and I realized that Slate had a lot of baggage to deal with. The same applies to Bard. I thought he was a sweet, lighthearted poet, but the boy has some serious issues. Getting to the truth of who each of these characters is was a challenge, but one I hope paid off in the end.

How did you come up with the names of your hero and/or heroine?

I get this question a lot, probably because I was very intentional in naming the characters in the trilogy. You’ll have to read the books to find out the significance of individual names, but I’ll say this much: Grit’s community waits until a baby’s first birthday to bestow a name, which the dame (mother) bases upon characteristics she’s observed in the infant. The names aren’t necessarily complimentary. In fact, some of them are downright rude. But each name winds up having a deeper meaning that offers a sense of  hope and redemption to the one carrying the name.

What does your family think of your writing?

It’s a mixed bag, actually, but I’m okay with that. I don’t expect everyone I know to read my work, and some of them haven’t. Nor do I expect everyone to enjoy my work. Most, but not all, have enjoyed my books, but I don’t take it personally if they don’t, knowing we all have our own preferences. My daughter, for example, wasn’t a fan of my Fantasy, but she is THE BIGGEST FAN of an unpublished Contemporary Young Adult story for which I’m currently seeking publication. The important thing is that every single one of my family members—husband, children, siblings, mother, in-laws, and beyond—have been supportive in different ways, granting me time to write, listening to me untangle plot and character development knots and challenging me in the process, buying books, recommending them to others, and gushing, gushing, gushing.

Who was the first person you allowed to read your completed book?

My sister has been the first reader of most of my books, chapter by chapter in the beginning. She has a knack for pointing out weaknesses and nudging me deeper into the heart of whatever story I’m writing. After having her at my side all the way through the Chasmaria trilogy, it was actually kind of terrifying to send HEARKEN into the world without  her feedback. I was enormously relieved when she remarked that it was the best book yet.

Do you have a favorite author or book?

That award is going to have to go to A SEPARATE PEACE. John Knowles has a gift for writing deep, complex, incredibly human characters, characters who tell us so much about the human condition, and each time I’ve read A SEPARATE PEACE, Knowles digs deeper into my heart.

Thank you for joining us today, Lisa.

What’s next for you as an author?

I am currently seeking a literary agent to represent the Contemporary YA novel that turned my daughter into a fan.  After that, I have a completed epistolary YA novel that deals with who we are and how we and others perceive ourselves. Finally, I’m working on a coming of age, twisted fairy tale that fans of ONCE UPON A TIME and INTO THE WOODS will love.

Before we go, where can readers find you online? 

https://lisadunnwrites.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/authorlisadunnImage
https://twitter.com/AuthorLisaDunn

Christmas Novella Spotlight

/ Carol Underhill / 1 Comment

Author’s Inspiration:

            After my first book was published and family and friends read Christmas Confusion, they wanted the other sisters’ stories. So, I hurried, wrote Sweet Summer, and submitted it to the publisher. The publisher liked the book, but they didn’t have room on the schedule to release a full novel that year. I didn’t want to wait two years for my next book, so I looked around and visited my sister’s vacation home on Hatteras Island. We visited the December after Hurricane Dorian devastated Ocracoke Island. We took the ferry and drove around the island. I wanted to write a story that highlighted the island and its people and all their needs—and courage. Christmas on Ocracoke resulted.

About the Book:

Reeling from the upheaval of a failed marriage, Annie Hanahan is desperate for a new start—and when she inherits a cottage on Ocracoke Island, she may finally get it. Without a second thought, she packs up and leaves everything behind: her first name, her job, and her ex-husband, because more than anything, she wants to get her son away from his father’s partying and neglectful ways. But when she arrives in the Outer Banks, she finds the island—and her promised refuge—ravaged by Hurricane Dorian.

When their parents died in a tragic car accident, Trey Kingsley dropped out of college to raise his sister. Now that she’s grown and moved away, it’s his turn to find a life of his own. As a contractor who has given so much of his time to helping Ocracoke recover from the devastation of Hurricane Dorian, it surprises no one when he offers to help the beautiful newcomer, but something is holding her back. Life keeps throwing them together, though, or perhaps God’s hand is giving them a nudge. Will a little bit of divine intervention be enough for a Merry Christmas on Ocracoke?

Excerpt:

What a way to make a fresh start.

Annie Hanahan glanced back via the rearview mirror and said a quick prayer of gratitude that her baby boy was too young to know what was going on right now. She’d die in shame, or eternal pre-teenaged mockery if he was, say, a decade older. Instead, her two-year old son waved his hands in the air and grabbed a toy Brontosaurus from the diaper bag propped open next to his car seat. 

The police officer drew even, and she lowered the driver’s side window. Up till now, she’d gone her whole life without a ticket.

“Good morning, ma’am. I’d ask if you knew how fast you were driving, but I’m guessing you figured that out by now.”

Annie concentrated on her breathing and not crying. “Yes, sir. I was going 80 in a 65.” So was every good ole’ boy along this stretch of the road, but if she’d been the low hanging fruit, so be it. “I’m sorry.”

The state trooper started to smile but must have remembered who he was and squashed any close-to-human expression from his face. “Well, ma’am, sorry is a good thing. Can I see your license and registration?”

This morning’s almond milk soured in her gut. “I can give you my license, but I bought this car yesterday and only have a temporary registration. My proof of insurance is for the old car.”

“Just give me what you have, and we’ll go from there.” Cars raced past them, behind his back, undoubtedly confident in their own speed now that one of their own had been sacrificed for the cause. 

She located her license and handed the card to the officer. 

“Annie Hanahan?” Officer–she squinted against the morning sun–Parker, looked from the license to her. “Any kin to Coach Hanahan?”

            Annie grimaced. Switching names was difficult, but leaving behind her well-known family might be impossible.

About the Author:

A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Christina Sinisi writes stories about families, both the broken and blessed. Her works include a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and the American Title IV Contest where she appeared in the top ten in the Romantic Times magazine. Her published books include Christmas Confusion, Sweet Summer, Christmas on Ocracoke, and Why They Call It Falling. By day, she is a psychology professor and lives in the LowCountry of South Carolina with her husband, two children and her crazy cat Chessie Mae.

Author media links:

Website/Blog: https://www.christinasinisi.com/ 

Social Networking Sites:

Twitter: @ChristinaSinisi

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Christina-Sinisi-Author

Instagram: @csinisi123

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/csinisi/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/101218889-christina-sinisi

Bookbub:  https://www.bookbub.com/profile/christina-sinisi

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Falling-Christina-Sinisi-ebook

Buy Link:

Meet the Author: Suzie Waltner

/ Carol Underhill / 1 Comment

Good Morning. My guest today is Suzie Waltner, author of Midnight Blue, a Christian romance.

Suzie, thank you for being my guest today. Let’s start with you telling us a little bit about yourself.

I am a busy single gal (although, I’m probably past the age where I can get away with “gal,” LOL!) who writes in her free time. During the day I work in the mortgage division of a large bank. I love my church and my group of friends, dog sit for a few people, and love watching my Predators (National Hockey League) play.

What is Midnight Blue about?

Ten years after Jake Turnquist broke up with his high school sweetheart in order to pursue his music career, he crosses paths with her again. Scarlett Sykes now has a daughter, but Jake is interested in renewing a friendship with her. What he doesn’t know is that Harmony is his daughter.

When he discovers the truth, Jake scrambles to orchestrate a way to spend time with Scarlett and Harmony—the family he’s always wanted but never knew he had. He once gave Scarlett up to pursue his music. What will he have to surrender to win her back?

So tell us, Suzie, what was the catalyst for your interest in writing?

I don’t have the typical story where I loved writing from a young age. I did write, but I didn’t really think much of it. In fact, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian up until my second year of college when I passed out during a sheep surgery. It was after that little episode I decided that I wasn’t cut out for the vet life.

Long story short, I ended up taking a lot of detours in college and ended up with an English degree, but I wanted to be an editor, not a writer (although I did take some creative writing classes).

Fast forward several years and a co-worker had posted something on Facebook about NaNoWriMo. When I saw her at work the next week, I told her I’d always wanted to give it a try, but it was usually halfway into November when I saw people talking about it. This particular year, I saw it in October. My co-worker encouraged me to do it, and I did. And then I kept writing and discovered I enjoyed it.

Do you have a day job? If so, how do you find time in your day to write?

I do have a 40-hour-a-week day job, so most of my writing is done on the weekends when I can dedicate large chunks of time to my stories. I love writing sprints, but they’re usually not running when I am writing so I will find a pre-recorded video or two on YouTube because it makes me feel like I’m writing with others plus those sprints provide for short breaks. Isn’t it funny the mind games we can play with ourselves to get something done?

Who was your favorite character to create?

Harmony (Jake and Scarlett’s daughter) was a fun addition to the story. It’s through her we see how differently Jake and Scarlett react to their daughter. She also adds some fun elements because kids are unpredictable.

Are you a plotter or a panster?

I am 100% a pantser. I’ve tried to plot a few times, but the characters refuse to follow my outline, so I’ve learned to let them steer the story. The one downside of being a pantser is that edits are more intense since I don’t have all the plot points worked out at the beginning of the book.

What does your family think of your writing?

My family is extremely supportive of my writing. I am the only one of my siblings (one brother and one sister) who is a reader, but both of them order my books. And my parents are always recommending my books to others or picking up another copy to give away.

Are you part of a writing group?

Yes, I am part of several writing groups. I belong to a couple of the big organizations like ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and Faith, Hope, and Love Christian Writers. I am also involved on more local levels as the current president of the ACFW Middle Tennessee chapter and I have two critique partners I work with weekly. I also love encouraging people who are interested in writing or new to it.

What’s next for you as an author?

I am currently writing book three in the Love in Color series while awaiting edits for book two. Readers are introduced to the entire band in Midnight Blue, and each member is getting their own story over the four-book series.

Thank you for being my guest today, Suzie.

Before we go, where can readers find you online?

Website: https://suziewaltner.com

Newsletter: https://suziewaltner.com/join-my-newsletter/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/suziewaltnerwrites

Instagram: https://instagram.com/suziewaltner

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nashpredsfan

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/suzie-waltner

Buy Link: